Green Building Design and Clean Energy 

Greener planning for a cleaner planet

Green building design and clean energy represent two ways that Kelly conserves valuable resources. From monitoring improvements in government policy, to smarter land use and site selection, to choosing better building materials—we integrate more environmentally friendly plans and energy-efficient practices where possible to help reduce our current footprint.  Below are a number of ways that Kelly is actively promoting green building design and clean energy:

• The Kelly Services headquarters building uses brick permeable pavers to mitigate storm water runoff through infiltration.  This allows for reduction of volume and peak flows , improved water quality, filtering of pollutants, mitigation of parking lot flooding and maximizes groundwater recharge. In addition to the sustainability benefit is  the increase in safety of  which there is a reduction in the slip and falls due to the elimination of concrete, and the associated issues with slabs heaving during the freeze- thaw cycles which occur during the winter months. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes permeable paving as a best management practice.

• Use of Ornamental grasses to provide an ecologically sound landscaping choice for the environmentally sensitive times in which we live. They require minimal maintenance and are relatively pest and disease free, thus limiting the need for chemical controls and fertilizers. These ornamental grasses are also drought tolerant, Kelly Services has been able to eliminate the irrigation system in the areas where this grass has been installed thereby placing fewer demands on our water resources. In addition, grass plants provide food and shelter for wildlife during the lean winter months.

• Kelly Services has incorporated a number of LEED USGBC® compliant practices in its quest to become certified under the USGBC.  These sustainable strategies have included everything from the purchasing of cleaning products and supplies to utilizing state of the art green design practices to take advantage of daylight harvesting.

• Kelly Services has joined the Detroit Audubon Society and has implemented project safe passage. Project safe passage helps migratory birds that pass through Michigan. Each year approximately 100 million birds die during their night migrations. Kelly Services minimizes this carnage by turning off lights in its headquarters buildings to prevent confusion with the bird’s navigation system thereby causing them to collide into our high-rise building.

• Kelly Services has received the coveted Energy Star Award from the EPA for 25% of the buildings on the corporate campus. This award recognizes outstanding energy efficiency.

• Kelly sustains an employee carpooling campaign and flexible work arrangements to conserve gasoline and reduce air-polluting emissions.

• Kelly’s lighting systems are integrated into an energy management system.

• Kelly replaces old IT servers and minimizes the overall number of servers we utilize to reduce our consumption of non-renewable energy.